Looking for a list of recommended books (need not be photography specific) on "seeing", form, gestalt, composing, color. Basically, why we like certain art works and not others. Why certain images appeal while others shock and repel. I'm looking to reach deeper, slow down and improve my craft.
John Berger's "Ways of Seeing" and "About Looking" are pretty intresting. Also, the painter Kandinsky wrote a couple of books, "Point and Line to Plane", I believe, and another "on Emotion in Art" or some such. I may have the titles wrong, and all are probably out of print. "Theories of Modern Art" by Hershel Chipp, and I have a book "Artist's on Art" edited by Robert Goldwater and Marco Treves.
You might try: Perception and Imaging, Second Edition by Richard Zakia, which is a contemporary treatment. See also William Mortensen's The Command to Look, the best book on composition that I've ever read.
You might try: Perception and Imaging, Second Edition by Richard Zakia, which is a contemporary treatment. See also William Mortensen's The Command to Look, the best book on composition that I've ever read.
How to Use Your Eyes (and other titles) by James Elkins
Color Design in Photography by Harald Mante (long OOP)
Photo Design by Harald Mante (long OOP)
Design and Form by Johannes Itten
The Elements of Color by Johannes Itten
The Interaction of Color by Josef Albers
Art and Visual Perception (and other titles) by Rudolf Arnheim
Art and Illusion by Gombrich
Landscape and Figure Composition by Sadakichi Hartmann (long OOP)
Pictorial Composition by Henry R. Poore (long OOP)
Looking for a list of recommended books (need not be photography specific) on "seeing", form, gestalt, composing, color. Basically, why we like certain art works and not others. Why certain images appeal while others shock and repel. I'm looking to reach deeper, slow down and improve my craft.
Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel This is a treatise on how to drill down to the essence of any art you wish to master.
The Decisive Moment, Introduction by Henri Cartier-Bresson. While this book is generally not available, the Introduction has been reprinted numerous times elsewhere. I know for a fact that it's in Photographers on Photography by Nathan Lyons.
Another Way of Telling - Berger
Chromophobia - David Batchelor (if you want to think about colour in a way contrary to the standard "academy" colour theorists...)
Yes - the Kandinsky books mentioned, also Paul Klee's Pedagogical Sketchbook